Finals Week

This time I have been dreading has come upon me fast. Finals week is only 7 days away, which means I have to take a little break from blogging and study! I have notes and reading to catch up, not to mention the mountains of neglected calculus homework and 6 chapters of a chemistry book that I need to study intensively.

I will, no doubt, still update. Perhaps every 3 days until I am back home, settled in, and (hopefully) have a summer job. I cannot say with certainty that any of those posts will be Paradise Lost, since that poem is a bit too in depth to be reading and analyzing during finals - but I will try. I'm also going to start listening to some religious podcasts, which should be interesting. I am looking forward to it!

Now, if you will excuse me - I have a paper cut from my Calculus textbook that needs tending. Wish me luck!

Prayer

Is there a proper way to pray? Who do you pray to?


There is this girl, who I admittedly dislike a great amount, who practically sneered when discussing the topic of praying. She said that Catholics don't know how to pray correctly - they're too repetitive, saints don't exist, Mary shouldn't be worshiped (since when has that happened?), you shouldn't pray to dead people, etc etc. In fact, she didn't like anything about Catholics, from how they don't site passage or verse numbers to animosity towards the Pope, but that's an entirely different discussion.

7 Quick Takes

My first ever 7 Quick Takes. I'm not sure what the point it, to be honest, but I assume it is to look at the little things (or big ones too, I guess) that made (or unmade) your week in a positive light. Well, here it goes:

Paradise Lost - Book I

Lines 283-330

Recap: Last time Lucifer, now on land, threw around some heavy philosophy – he’d rather be king of the damned than a lowly servant, and Beelzebub once again played the role of brown-nosing second in command as he urged Lucifer to call together the rest of the fallen angels.

Church Attire

What, exactly, is proper attire for attending church?

My neighbors back home, every sunday for Mass, dress to the nines. I mean it. Hats, gloves, heels, humble dresses, no jewelry or makeup in sight; men in suits shining their shoes while they waited outside. I love it. That is how I have always envisioned you had to dress for going to church. To me, it conveys respect - not only for God, but for the church, your community, and yourself.

Paradise Lost - Book I

Lines 242-282

To recap: Lucifer and his crew have been tossed out of Heaven and into the Vulcan like fire and brimstone Hell. Chained down in the Lake of Fire as a matter of fact. Lucifer and his second in command exchange some words regarding their situation, break free of the chains and fly to dry land.

Denominations

It wasn't until I began attending college in the Midwest that I realized, Catholicism is not the most prominent branch of Christianity in the United States. In fact, earlier while I was showering I realized that there area I grew up in had a very high number of Catholics, and it probably wasn't indicative of the rest of the country - the statistics that Protestant was the most common religion popped into my head.

I have wondered why not many people I have met identified as Catholic. A quick look at some statistics gives me my answer. Turns out, Protestantism - particularly Baptist - is the most common religion where I am attending school (approx 25% are Baptist, with about 15% Catholic compared to 8% Baptist and 40% Catholic where I grew up). Protestant, of course, is a group of denominations - Lutheran, Baptist, and Pentecostal being the major ones.